Former general: Remember 9/11 at polls in November [Tommy Franks]

The Naples Daily News (FL) ^ | 3/7/04 | Elizabeth Wndt-Kellar

[texasflower]

Franks, who now lives in Tampa and received three Purple Hearts..

I have no trouble believing that these Purple Hearts were EARNED.

[easonc52]

I understand your sentiment, however I believe the American people will be jogged in their memories before that happens.

It doesn't seem to me that anyone can remember 9/11 and vote for someone with a voting record against all the defenses we currently employ.

I also hope that there are people that can prove this and bring it clearly to the voters.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Franks is a great guy. As the Army pressed more and more conventional units into Afghanistan in 2002, things bogged down more and more in peacetime bureaucracy. He showed his appreciation for what we were doing and shared our disdain for the rear-echelon bureaucrats that were trying to turn Bagram into Bragg East by posing with two of our guys for a photo in front of one of the 18th Corps CSM's beloved "fleece jackets will not be worn as an outer garment" sign. (Of course, only the REMFs had desert pattern gore-tex outergarments, so the real meaning was, "combat troops, freeze, you chumps").

Naturally Franks and the two guys are wearing the black fleece jacket, pointing at the sign, and grinning. Any general who has enough of a sense of humour to do that, deserves a standing O everywhere life takes him.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

You really must read this book, it is fasinating!

It is that, but be careful of it. The final version differs in some details from the version that the TF Dagger (5th SF Group) guys saw and approved. Some stuff was added somewhere...

• Almost all the stuff about Keith Idema aka 'Jack' is bogus. He was not on any kind of mission for anyone in USG. He went over ostensibly to work for an NGO and then took off on his own -- running up a huge bill on their satphone, among other things. USSF personnel were warned to avoid him.

• A lot of the stuff about this or that "rear-echelon" guy being unsupportive, is scuttlebutt, arrant nonsense. That kind of thing happens down at the team level, guys piss and moan about the rest of the Army.
• On the other hand, the stuff on some of the ODAs ('555') and ODBs in there is based on very early interviews that Robin did himself with those team members, right at their FOB (Forward Operating Base, where an SF battalion launches its teams from in wartime).

It is an exaggeration to say that SF soldiers disliked Franks. SF soldiers are spring-loaded to distrust any conventional soldier or officer -- and vice versa. In fact the Army from CINC GWB through the SECDEF and acting SECARM down through combatant commander Franks got behind SF considerably and made it happen. Tommy Franks did not push to send large infantry units or tank elements (as the Army Chief of Staff at the time wanted). Franks may not have liked SF at first but a year later he knew who was producing most of his actionable intelligence and changing the zip codes of most of his wanted bad guys.

I was disappointed by the last-minute changes to the book as I think the original version was better. I mentioned it to Robin Moore (yes, I know him) and he changed the subject! One thing the book may not mention (I didn't see it) is that he is 79 and is fighting Parkinson's Disease. So his trip to the war zone, where he interviewed everyone from generals to the newest demo man or medic, was a real display of character from a guy who truly earned the Green Beret (even though he was a journalist at the time).

Robin has just finished his latest book The Hunt for Saddam. He is lively as ever. He was older than his peers by about 10 years when he went to jump and SF school in 1963! And most people don't know this, but he was a college classmate and friend of Robert F. Kennedy.

Another good read is Bush at War. Yeah, it's by Woodward, but it's good. Read that and you will have no questions about the President's leadership!

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[CWOJackson]

Former "active duty" general, he will remain a general the rest of his life.

[Criminal Number 18F]

I have no trouble believing that these Purple Hearts were EARNED.

As far as that goes, Kerry's PH's were earned, by the letter of the law, if he sought medical treatment for injuries and the injuries were caused by the enemy. It's true that many men would be ashamed to seek a purple heart for scratches and bruises, but legally, he's on firm ground.

Kerry's latest stunt is having his minions and flunkies sue everyplace that is displaying his 1971 book. SLAPP suits, to bury his NVA-flag period....

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[CyberAnt]

Is that the USS Ronald Reagan?

[prognostigaator]

bttt

[JLAGRAYFOX]

A vote for John Kerry and the Democrat Party is a vote for Osama Bil Laden and his terrorist follwers. Bin Laden prays faithfully every day for a Kerry victory! What that happens, it is open season on killing innocent Americans, women and children included. Wake up, America, the handwriting of terror is on the wall!